Anti-Empire

After coping with serious illness over the past year, I have accepted the frustration and pain of having to put parts of my life on hold. I have gotten significantly better in the last couple of months and particularly the last few weeks. I will soon return to my thesis. I am well enough now to visit my sister who is town from Boston this week - something that I could not do in a real way a few months ago. I am well enough to read and write again. I have recovered the core of my existence.

Everything has looked brighter recently and I have been filled with hope. My frustrations surrounding my limited ability to participate in life as fully as I would like have been tempered with the knowledge that, in time, I will be able to more fully re-engage with living.

Organizing an emergency protest in solidarity with the people who have been illegally treated and detained by the police at the G20 summit is not something that can wait. And, I simply do not have the physical capacity to do this. I can tell you that of all the things I have endured in the past year, incapacity at this time is one of the most heartbreaking and angering of the experiences. Moving along through a paced recovery, I occupy myself with many mindless diversions. Yesterday and today, I feel I am failing as an activist, a comrade and a human being.

All I can do is attempt to assist in disseminating some of the reports from people on the ground. All I can do is thank my comrades and tell you that I am reduced to sobbing as it eats at my soul to not be able to physically stand in solidarity with you.

I will continue to distribute information on this blog, on my Tumblr account and on Twitter - @joannecostello. If I can help anyone in any socially mediated way, please contact me.

I am using this space to post a report that I found at The DominionMedia Co-op -- and excellent source for grassroots coverage of the events.

WE ARE CALLING AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IN THE
MEANTIME, DISTRIBUTE THIS LINK AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE.

We (i.e., Justin Giovannetti and Lex Gill) are both able and
willing to testify in front of a court of law, tribunal or hearing to
attest to the validity of these statements. Much of this is now recorded
on video and we have some contact information for the victims. We will
NOT consent to contact with any police representatives (municipal,
provincial, or federal) nor will we consent to speaking to other
security agencies (CSIS, Canadian Forces, etc.). We can be contacted at
lex.gill [at] gmail [dot] com, or jackgiovannetti [at] gmail [dot] com.

We just got back to our computers and are frantically writing this
message. It is 4:45 a.m. on Monday morning. We are the only people who
seem to know the extent of this story. Coffee and adrenaline keeping us
going. When we got to Queen and Spadina after leaving the Convergence
Centre raid today, we had already been blocked off by police lines. It
was pouring rain, and we could hear a confrontation taking place further
down the street. The cops didn't care whether or not we were media --
in fact, we heard that media was forced to leave before we arrived.
Police acted violently and with sheer disregard for the law, attacking
peaceful protesters and civilians unrelated to the protest. Tired,
frantic, and feeling defeated, we came home and posted the message
before this one.

We then did the only thing left to do, and headed to 629 Eastern
Avenue (the G20 Detention Centre, a converted film studio), where
detainees from the demonstrations were being taken. We knew people were
being released sporadically so we grabbed as many juice boxes and
granola bars as we could afford and set off with medical supplies.
Journalists were basically absent, showed up only to take a few seconds
of video, or simply arrived far too late to be effective.

It is next to impossible to set the scene of what happened at the
Detention Centre. Between the two of us we estimate that we spoke to
over 120 people, most of whom were released between 9:30 p.m. and 4:30
a.m. Despite not knowing each other, the story they tell is the same. It
goes like this. Most were arrested at three locations: the Novotel on
Saturday evening where the police arrested hundreds of peaceful
protesters (look @spaikan on Twitter); Spadina/Queen's Park all day
Saturday and early Sunday, as people were arrested all over the downtown
for many different (and often bogus) reasons; and the University of
Toronto, where hundreds of Quebecers and others were woken up and
arrested at gun point early Saturday morning.

What follows is a list, as detailed as we can make it in a blog post,
of what we saw and heard.

People were held for up to 35 hours with a single meal. None
seemed to have received food more than twice daily, the meal they did
receive was a hamburger bun with processed cheese and margarine
described as a centimeter thick. Detainees had to create loud noises for
hours to receive any food at all. All reported feeling more ill and
dehydrated after eating than before. Some vomited and received no
medical attention when they did. Water was not provided with the meal.

Inadequate water, as little as an ounce every 12 hours.
Although some people reported receiving approximately an ounce (a small
Dixie cup) of water every three hours, most seemed to have received
far less than that. They had to create loud noises and continuously
demand water, only to receive it up to an hour and a half later.
Sometimes rooms with over a dozen people were only given a handful
(four or five) cups of water and forced to share. Some reported the
water as yellow-coloured and smelling of urine, which they didn't
drink.

Facilities over-capacity.There were many reports of "cages"
filled with 40 people, though a police officer told one detainee that
they were intended for groups of no more than 15 to 20. Each cage had a
single bench, with only enough seating for five people. There was only
one toilet in each cage and it was without a door. Women were creating
barriers with their bodies for others to create some semblance of
privacy.

Major delays in processing.Many detainees were told that the
only reason they remained at the Centre was due to unexplained delays
in processing. Most detainees seemed to go through a three step system
whereby they were put in an initial holding cell, only to be moved to a
second cell after meeting a Staff Sergeant in a board room. This is
where they were told what they were arrested for. Eventually they were
moved to a third cell before release. This process seemed to take no
less than 10 hours. Others were never told why they were arrested and
never signed any documents. A few were released immediately upon
arriving at the Centre and were never processed. Some were never brought
to a cell, only made to wait in a line to be let out.

Inconsistent charges. Groups arrested at the same time and
for the same behaviour were given different charges, with some let out
and others given court dates. Many felt the police simply assigned a
charge or did not know why they were being arrested. Some charges were
changed or dropped before the detainees were released.

People put in solitary confinement. Most of the openly queer
detainees reported to have been transferred to a "Segregated Zone." In
cages built for one, couples of men and women were held. A lesbian is
reported to have spent nearly 10 hours alone. Another woman said she was
kept alone in a large cell for hours, asking to be moved the whole
time.

No pillows or mattresses to sleep. No bedding was ever
provided for detainees, who were told to sleep on bare concrete floors.
Detainees were stripped of all but a single shirt and legwear. Many
said they could not sleep during their day long detentions.

Unsanitary and unsafe living conditions. Many of the floors
of the cages were covered with dirt and the residue from green
paintballs used to identify suspects in crowds. Vomit was also on the
floor and no cleaning of the cages took place.

Police intimidation of released detainees. With many of the
detainees released and standing across the street from the detention
centre, getting food and water from community volunteers while waiting
for friends, police stood menacingly across the road. Almost all the
detainees were frightened by the police presence and feared an attack.
The police used the headlights of rental Dodge Caravans to light up the
crowd, citing a need to "keep them visible."

Non-stop light exposure/loss of natural light rhythm/sensory
deprivation. Detainees emerged with a broken day/night cycle, being
deprived of all connection to the outside world or any other time-based
events (ie. set eating times). While in their cages, detainees were
subject to constant light.Exposure to extreme cold.Detainees
complained of the air conditioning in the building being very high.
Many of them said that they were frozen and asked for blankets, a
request which was always refused. Due to having only a single layer of
shirt and sleeping on concrete floors, the cages were extremely cold.

Sexual harassment of women and Queer people. We heard many
first-hand accounts of cat-calls and crude sexual comments directed at
women from police officers at the Centre. Some women faced inappropriate
sexual contact (including one girl who was forced to endure a police
officer covering her body with detainee number stickers in order to
touch her), and rough handling from police officers. Openly Queer boys
were told to "straighten up," and there was at least one completely nude
strip search preformed on a young woman with no reasonable
explanation. It is unclear whether the strip searches that took place
were consistently conducted by members of the same gender. It is also
unclear as to whether any Transpeople, if detained, were put in cells
of a gender of their own determination or in cells of a police gender
assignment.

Youth as young as 15 in adult cells. Youth (under 18)
detainees were held in the same cells as adults, some of whom had not
been charged at all (and thus it could not be justified that they were
being held on adult charges). A 16-year-old was held in an adult cell
for at least 12 hours, the police were fully aware of his age, and his
parents were at no point contacted.

Denial of legal counsel. When detainees asked to see lawyers
they were told that they would receive legal counsel at a later time or
at the time of processing. Often, these times went by and no legal
counsel was provided. Those released without charge were told to avoid
contacting lawyers. Most detainees said they were never informed of
their rights.

No phone call. About only one in ten of the detainees we
spoke to had been given access to a phone. Others were promised access
at a later time and never received it. There was a father waiting
outside for his 20-year old son who had been arrested Saturday
afternoon or evening, and had yet to receive a call. Many of the
detainees were told that only 20 phones were available in the building,
holding over 500 detainees at the time. The offices of legal counsel
also had no landlines.

Belonging stolen/damaged.Most detainees reported that at
least some of their confiscated belongings were not returned to them,
including passports, wallets, credit and debit cards, money, cellphones
and clothing. When detainees were escorted outside the Centre, many
were made to walk on the street without access to their shoes (sealed
in thick plastic bags only returned at the limit of the Centre's
property). Some shoes were missing entirely. At least one extremely
visually impaired detainee's glasses were put with his belongings and
were severely damaged when he recovered them (ie. broken in half).

Threats of assault/harassment.Many detainees, but especially
French Canadian detainees (who were not served in French), were taunted
and threatened with assault. Homophobic slurs were used by guards and
one was told that if he was ever seen again in Toronto the cop would
attack him. Other degrading comments were made, including telling
detainees that they "looked like dogs."

Obviously illegal civilian arrests. Some civilians who were
completely uninvolved in the demonstrations were arrested while exiting
subway stations in the downtown core. Some were arrested after illegal
searches of cars turned up "dangerous goods" (like books about activism
and lemon juice). One fully-uniformed TTC streetcar driver was
arrested for hours. He had been ordered out of his streetcar by riot
police and was immediately arrested. We wish we were kidding.

No access to medication or medical treatment. While doing
medical support, Lex met at least two people who had been denied
medication. The first was a woman who said that she was pre-diabetic
and needed medication for nausea and dizziness. She was denied access
to medical treatment, despite the fact that by the time Lex found her
she was extremely faint, barely conscious, and had difficulty sitting
up. The second was a young man who was prescribed anti-psychotics and
had missed several doses (he did not, however, have an episode at the
time Lex met him). We heard stories of at least one person with Type 2
diabetes inside the Centre who had been deprived of insulin and fell
unconscious. Many stories of a man handcuffed to a wheelchair, missing a
leg (and his prosthetic) came from the released detainees. One
recently-released detainee had four extremely poorly done stitches on
his chin and was uncertain as to what shots (whether tetanus or
anesthetic, or both) he was given. He was given the stitches at the
time of his arrest and the wound was still bleeding badly (we had to
sterilize it and applied gauze).

AbandonmentDespite all of the above mentioned crimes against
detainees, most notably including medical issues, the Toronto Police
had no plan for the detainees after they were released. They were
simply escorted off the property and told to leave. Many had no idea
where they were, had no access to a phone, had not eaten in a day, had
no identification or money on their person, and were nowhere near mass
transit. Had community volunteers and fellow released detainees not
been present to assist them, we fear that some could have faced
life-threatening medical emergencies or death.

We will be continually updating this blog over the next few weeks.
Please share this with everyone you possibly can. People must know what
has happened in Toronto. For those of you attending the Jail Solidarity
rally tomorrow, please distribute this link widely.